Gluhead Posted October 10, 2012 Posted October 10, 2012 This kit is too nice to leave sitting in the box. I have to start picking away at it. I almost always start with the rolling stock...no different here. Modelhaus Goodyear w/w's. I forget the stock number. The wheels are, I think, supposed to be a rendition of the '61 Caddy caps? They're closer to those than Caddy Sabers. Either way, they're from the AMT '64 Marauder kit. I gave them a hard wash of metalizer brass and shaved off the Olds emblem from the kit hubcaps. I threw the decal at it just to see how it would work out. I can't say I'm really all that happy with the decal so I may end up pulling it off and trying it with paint...or possibly making bullet caps. We'll see! The thread title prob'ly gives the colors away - cream roof over a root beer body. Other than some altitude adjustment I won't mess with it too much. It's a great kit so I want to give it a chance to shine on it's own merits before I start hacking them up. Enough yakkin' here's pics.
Dr. Cranky Posted October 10, 2012 Posted October 10, 2012 I like them, they are looking good. Looking forward to more.
fatkidd Posted October 10, 2012 Posted October 10, 2012 i really like the wheels. for the center cap decal, why not try a dab of clear epoxy over it?
John Goschke Posted October 10, 2012 Posted October 10, 2012 Love the wheels! The whitewalls are a bit "gangsterie."
Gluhead Posted October 12, 2012 Author Posted October 12, 2012 Thanks, guys. Sorting out just how I'll handle the altitude adjustment now...with any luck I'll have some progress to report tonight.
Draggon Posted October 13, 2012 Posted October 13, 2012 I love what ya did with the hubcaps. All these years I never realized they were caddy caps. Awesome!
Gluhead Posted October 13, 2012 Author Posted October 13, 2012 Alright, altitude time. Revell really did a nice job on this chassis. Here's the unmolested lower a-arm/spindle/steering linkage piece. As I said before, I want to let this kit shine on it's own merits as much as possible, but it's got to come down so I'll modify what's here wherever I'm able, and only add/subtract where I absolutely have to. Once the piece is cleaned up (not like that takes much on this kit), I trimmed the bolt detail and drilled for pins. Then I carefully cut the a-arm free. This is a delicate piece so it takes very little effort. And here's an animated gif to show the articulation once it's pinned back together. The pins are just stretched sprue that's been heated on one end to create a rivet head. No, I'm not going to make the suspension functional...but this was the easiest way to reposition the lower a-arm. The way this thing is done, it would not take a crapload of effort to make it working, though. I bet we'll see a few done up.
Gluhead Posted October 14, 2012 Author Posted October 14, 2012 The lever shocks/control arms simply set up on 1/8" blocks. Along with this drop and the modified spindles, there's a total of a 6" scale drop. I also wound some new coil springs.
Gluhead Posted October 14, 2012 Author Posted October 14, 2012 Oh, and I also went back to the kit tires. It was getting pretty tight in those wheelwells.
crazyrichard Posted October 14, 2012 Posted October 14, 2012 wheels look great and love the suspension
jeffs396 Posted October 14, 2012 Posted October 14, 2012 Lookin' GOOD so far Chris! Nice work on the suspension bits
Gluhead Posted October 15, 2012 Author Posted October 15, 2012 Thanks, guys. I forgot this one on the last update - pretty close to final ride height...I'll tweak it if necessary once the rear is done. And now the back... Usually it's pretty easy to separate the rear end from the leafs or arms because they usually sit on top (or bottom) of the housing. Well, I picked it up to start in on it and guess what? This one isn't molded quite that simple. Yeah, the easy way out would be to just let the angle of the arms be all whack. I'm all for easy, but that'll just look...well...kinda bad. So after I scratched my head for a minute I grabbed a p/e saw blade and made the easy cuts into the housing. Once I'd reached the limit of what I could get to with that, I stuck a tiny drill bit into the drem and started boring through between the housing and arms. Once there are enough holes, it's easy enough to clear them out with the same bit...just gotta be real careful with how much material is attacked while doing side to side movements with a bit that's thin as wire - I knew I'd break at least one, so I used old ones that I'd already cracked the tip off...good thing, because I ended up snapping two before I was done. lol. Once removed and everything was all cleaned up, a couple pieces of strip stock sandwiched together makes the new lowering blocks. These'll get trimmed/shaped to match the remaining part of the bracket, still on the housing, and if it's still not low enough now I've got a good base to add shims. More in a bit.
Gluhead Posted October 15, 2012 Author Posted October 15, 2012 Blocks cleaned up... Boinnngggg! I trimmed down the spring pockets and replaced the crossmember. The kit one was very bulky, and was getting in the way of the rear end. Since it's just sitting there dry-fit it's a little higher than it should be, but it's not all that far off from final ride height. Wheels got a little off center as well, but they're good when things are snug.
MachinistMark Posted October 15, 2012 Posted October 15, 2012 Looks good! I did the drop on mine similar.. I raised the upper a arms 1/4 of an inch (6 scale inches) and moved the lowers to suit. I then cut off the spindles and re glued them straight up to correct the wonky camber
Fat Brian Posted October 15, 2012 Posted October 15, 2012 Wow, now I have to buy another one for a period custom, dang.
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